Door holder



Dec. 15, 1931. B HURD 1,837,126

DOOR HOLDER Filed April 1, 1951 2 Sheets-Shee l EIZNOR I ATTORNEY-5;

Dec. 15, 1931. N. B. HURD 1,837,126

DOOR HOLDER Filed April 1, 1951 2 Sheets-Shee 2 INVENTOR Patented Dec. 15, 1931 UNITED STATES; PATENT OFFICE NORMAN n Runner unwmerrom 'comcrrcur, ASSIGNOB To 'rrrn amrrzercan HARDWARE QORPOB-A'HOEDE new BRITAIN, comvncrrcnr, A conromrron or CONNECTICUT noon HOLDER,

j Application filed April 1 aan sena No. 526,839.

My invention relates to certain new and usefulimprovements in so calleddoorchecks and holders. 1 f

The principal .objectof the present invention'is to provide in a door check. and closer simple efficient and reliable means for holding the-door aj ar atany desired position and to provide therewith self-acting means to release the holder in the event of-fire, whereby the doorcloser may operate to closethe door. In the accompanying drawings, I have shown a preferred embodiment of my invention, but it should be understood that certain modificationsand changes may be made with out departing from the spirit of .theinvention or the scope of the following claims.

Generally speaking, the present invention is an improvement adaptedtothat type :of door check, closer and holder of the type disclosed in my United States Letters Patent No. 1,595,098, of August 10,1926- v In the, accompanying drawings-e Fig. l is a plan-viewof my invention as applied to a door, "the door being held open by the holding-mechanism r 1 Fig. 2 is a similar view'showing the door closed, the holding mechanism having been released; I

Fig. 3 is anend elevationof certain details; Fig. 4 is a relatively enlarged longitudinal section of certain parts in one-position;

Fig. '5 is a similar view showing certain parts in a difierent position;

Fig. 6 is a View of the under-side of the parts as shown in Fig. 4; i

Fig. 7ris a cross-section onihe line 7.7. of Fig. 6. l

10 representsythe housing :of ado'or: checkand closing mechanism of anysuitable construction mountednn the door 11 hingedat12 on the doorcasinglii. l lrepresentsa shaft suitably :connected with the closing. and checking mechanism; within the housing 10.

v 15 is an arm fixedon theend ofthe-shaft 14.. Pivotally connected-to the outerend of the arm 15 is another-arm l6 pivotally connected at 16 tothe door casing 13. The arm 16 may be telescopically adjustable .in any suitable way. The hinged connection between the arms 15--16 is so constructed that when the V at the-e'nd of the arm 15.

door has been opened to a' predetermined degree, for.example as shown in Fig. 1, these hinged ends will jam so asto hold the door in said open position. a A preferred form ofthe construction by which this object is attained is shownin the drawings, wherein it will be seen that the arm 16 is provided with an annularhead which forms a cam ring 17. This ring is mounted to concentrically rotate on the upstandinghub of the head-piece 15 18 isa bearing disk whichoverstands the cam ring 17. 19 is a key,-on'e endo'f "which rests in a groove in the upper faceof the hub portion ofthe headpiece -15, the other end extending into a groove in t'heunder-side of the bearing disk 18," as best seen in Figs. 4 and5. By means,

of this key, the parts'15 and 18cannot turn independently,butth e cam ring 17 may rotate between them when unrestrained. The cam ring 17 is somewhat tapered so as to be thinner on ene side than on the other whereby it will effect a camming or a wedgingaction' between the parts 15' and '18 Inorderthat it shall so act, I locate a bolt 20, by which the several parts are held in assembled position, eccen- 1 trically of the parts 15", 17, and 18 with sufiicient clearance around the bore of the bolt passage to permit said parts not only to rotate relatively to each otherin the manner described, but also to rock relatively to each other. 21 is anadjusting nut on the bolt 20, and 22 is a checknut to hold the nut 21 when the proper adjustment has .-been effected.

Between the inner side' of the adjusting nut 21 and theadjacent under-side of the part 15, I loca'tethe end of a rockingbar 23, the'end ot-said bar having a passage forthebolt 20.

The adjusting nut 21 has a collar-21* which extends up on the screw threaded partof the bolt 20 so as l to extend into the passage through" the cares so that said bar will not bruise the screw threads of the bolt 20. The

end of the bar 23 which surrounds the collar '21 is preferably tapered outwardly so asto be thinner at the outer-edge, as seen inFigs. 4 and 5.v The other end of the bar 23 is held by a screw'bolt24 and nut 25 to the arm 15. Manifestly, when the'bar23 is drawn up tightly into-the position shown in Fig. 4 and i100 when the bolt 20 is inserted and the adjusting nut 21 is drawn up, its position will determine the degree of freedom between the parts 15, 17 and 18 so that the device may be adwhereuponthe door will be heldajar at that particular angle, and this angle may be varied at will by simply adjusting the nut 21 to the proper position.

7 I have thus far described one form of-door check, closer and holder to which my invention applies, the' said invention as originally pointed outrrelating particularly to ameans for releasing the holder so that, in the event of fire, the closer mechanism may mechanically close the door. This construction comprises a pair of scissor-like lever arms 26-27 pivoted together at 28-on the arm 15. The extreme rear or inner-ends of the arms 26-27 are offset to form stops 269-27 as best seen in Figs. 4 to 6, so that whenthe arms 26-27 are unrestrained it will check the opening of the arms 26-27 and prevent excessive movement, asshown in Fig. 2, when they have opened sufiiciently far to accomplish their intended purpose. 7 Each lever 26-27 is provided with a notch such as indicated at 29 in Fig. 5, and these notches are located opposite to each other and are beveled so as to fit under the head of the screw bolt 24, which head is also preferably beveled or tapered on the under-side. 30 is a fusible link by which the outer ends of the arms 26-27 are connected, preferably through the medium .of adjustable hooks 31-32; The. shank of each of these hooks is slotted to slip over the end of the link to which it is to'be attached, and these links are provided respectively with an adjusting screw 33-34 which enters the back of the slot in each shank and engages in anotch in the adjacent edge of the scissors arm'on which it is mounted. To

assemble the parts ready for operation, the

of the screw will be engaged in the'notched portion of the scissors members 26-27. The fusible link 30 is then applied so as to connect the two ends of the scissors arms 26-27 as-plainly shown in Fig. 6. In this position,

the beveled notches extend under the head of thescrew 24 so that the nut 25 may then'be lower side of the arm 15 as shown in Fig. 4. When in this position, the door may be opened to the position that it is intended to be held in by the holder mechanism, and the adjusting nut 21 is turned up until the several parts are bound together tightly enough to jam and prevent the door from closing under the influence of the closer. With the mechanism thus set, the door may be manually opened to such a degree that the hinged connection between the arms 15-16 will be caused to bind and hold the door ajar. The door will necessarily stay ajar until it is ither released manually or automatically. Obviously, the friction may be overcome by applying manual pressure to the door in the right direction to close it, but if, in the absence of any attendant, a fire should occur in the vicinity of the, door, the heat would melt the fusible link 30, whereupon the arms 26-2-7 would-be forced apart by the wedging action of the tapered under-side of the head of the screw 24, since, obviously,'whenever the arms 15-16 are opened to a point where the parts 15, 17, and 18 jam, an added tension will beput upon the bar 23 and the screw 24. Thus, the moment the scissors arms 26-27 open or spread, the action of the bar 23'Will be to rock from the position'shown in Fig. 4 to that shown in Fig. 5 wherein tension. will be taken, off between the members 15, 17, and 18, and the mechanical door closer mechanism will then operate to instantly close the door. It will be noted that it is the cam ring that causes the two armsto bind together to hold the door in open position when the lever arms have been moved apart to a predetermined angle, whereas the bolt 20 serves as an adjusting means to vary'the position at which the binding action caused by the cam ring occurs, while at the same time serving as a means for holding the parts in assembled relation. It will also be noted that the slots in the shank of the hooks 31-32 are sufficiently long to permit the ends of the lever arms 26-27 to be adjusted to and fro in said shanks, whereby variations in the length of the fusible link may be compensated.

I claim: 7

1. A door holder comprising, two arms pivotally connected together and including a cam ring to frictionally jam said pivotal connection when said arms are moved to a predetermined angle, to hold a door in open position, with means to release the frictional tension between said cam ring and associated parts in case of fire, whereby the door may close, said releasing means including a pair of scissor levers normally engaging between them one of the parts of the pivotal connection to hold the same normally in a fixed operative position and to release the same from its operative position in case of fire,

with a fusible element for holding said levers in said operative position.

2. A door holder comprising, two arms pivotally connected together and'including a cam ring to frictionally jam said pivotal connection when said arms are moved to a predetermined angle, to hold a door in open position, with means to release the frictional tenfor varying the tensionon said fusible element. 7

3. A door holder comprising two arms pivotally connected together and including a cam ring connected to the end of one of said arms and rotatable therewith, to normally frictionally jam the pivotal connection in one predetermined position, and also including a bolt, a rocking bar coacting with the latter in any predetermined position of adjustment whereby the turning of the cam ring to its said one predetermined position operative position, and a fusible means to free said lever arm, to 1n turn free sa1ddevice, to in turn free the rocking bar and thereby release the frictional tension in the ivotal connection for the first-mentioned ever arms.

. NORMAN B. HURD,

will jam said connection, and a pair of scissor levers normally for holding said rocking bar in normal operation, fusible means associated with said scissorlevers to release the same in case of fire and free said rocking bar and the frictional tension of the cam ring to permit the door to close.

4. A door holder comprising two arms piv otally connected together, including a cam ring to frictionally jam said pivotal connection when the said arms are moved to a'predetermined angle to hold a door in open-position, said pivotal connection also including a rocking bar, and a bolt for holding together the several parts of said pivotal connection, a screw bolt for holding said rocking bar normally in operative position, a pivoted arm operating to hold said screw bolt in position to hold said rocking bar in said operative position, and fusible means to free said pivoted arm to in turn free said screw bolt to in turn free the rocking bar and thereby the frictional tension in the pivotal connection for the first-mentioned arms.

5. A door holder comprising, two arms pivotally connected together and including a cam ring to frictionally jamsaid pivotal connection when said arms are moved to a predetermined angle, to hold a door in open position, and also including a rocking bar, a 7 

